New Mahindra Thar trying to cross river drowns after flash floods: JCB rescues it

Mahindra launched the all-new Thar last year and the vehicle is still in high demand. We have seen many videos of owners taking the Thar in many extreme locations and sometimes getting royally stuck in many of these. After the viral video of a Mahindra Thar crossing the river a few days ago, here is a video of the new Thar drowning after trying to cross a river.

The video is from the Hoshiarpur, Punjab, which is located near the foothills of the Himalayan ranges has many off-roading enthusiasts. One such group decided to do off-roading with the Thar and cross a river with the vehicle. As per reports, flash floods suddenly caused the level of water in the river to rise and the Thar got trapped.

Also read: Buying a pre-owned Mahindra Thar is better than buying a new one: 5 reasons

The videos and pictures of the incident show some great efforts made by the group of people to rescue the Thar. The vehicle is stuck in muck and mud, which is extremely slippery and it is not very easy to rescue a vehicle from such a surface.

Even a backhoe joined the rescue mission. However, in one of the videos, we can see that the strap attached to the vehicle and backhoe breaks and causes the Thar to fall down. The group of people even try to push the Thar from the location but that also did not help.

We are not sure if the group was finally able to rescue the Thar. If they did, it would have been a marathon of efforts by them. We are also not sure if anyone sustained any injuries during the off-roading adventure.

Know your limits

The Mahindra Thar is an extremely capable vehicle that gets specialised off-road equipment like low-ratio transfer case, electronically locking hubs, mechanically locking differential, electronic traction control and more. These features along with a good set of tyres are enough to take the vehicle to many extreme situations. However, one should know about the limitations of the vehicle too.

Taking a vehicle to cross a raging river, which is full of fresh sediments on the river bed is a guaranteed way of getting stuck. Even high-end off-roading vehicles from British manufacturers may not cross such streams. This is the territory of amphibian vehicles like Sherp.

The Mahindra Thar gets a water wading capability of 650mm, which is slightly more than 2 feet. While it is enough capacity to go through the flooded roads in the neighbourhood and take water crossings on the off-roading course, it definitely is not enough to cross a raging river. Even a snorkel would not have helped here as the vehicle is beached and is not able to move on its own.

Do safe off-roading

The first strategy of doing off-roading successfully is to save the vehicle first. If you keep the vehicle in good condition and do not damage it, you are doing well. Other than knowing the limit of the vehicle as we have mentioned above, one should always walk the obstacles before getting the vehicle through it. It helps in understanding the terrain. Also, never go off-roading without a rescue vehicle. As you can get stuck in remote areas and help can be hours away.

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